It has long been a common practice to administer additives to supplement livestock feed rations. Feed additives can be used, for example, to help provide a balanced diet (e.g., vitamins and/or trace minerals), to protect the animals from disease or stress (e.g., antibiotics, probiotics), and/or to stimulate growth (e.g., hormones). Feed additives or supplements generally are administered to each animal or group of animals on a regular basis in carefully controlled dosages, oftentimes very small dosages, to ensure optimal benefit. Such additives generally are considered to be low-inclusion ingredients, which can be defined as ingredients found in amounts of less than 1 to 2 pounds (lbs) per ton of feed ration.
Currently the beef and dairy industries use one of two methods to deliver low-inclusion ingredients (e.g., microingredients and/or macroingredients) into the feed ration. For feed yards or dairies that have a complete feed mill with batch-mixing capability, a ‘micromachine’ (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,437,075; 3,498,311; 3,670,923; 3,806,001; 3,822,056; and 4,733,971) is used that weighs each of the low-inclusion ingredients and uses a fluid (e.g., compressed air or liquid, such as water) flush to deliver the microingredients to the batch mixing system. A liquid flush typically results in the addition of water in the amount of about 1-2% of the feed ration. Disadvantages of fluid flushes can include inadequate liquid mass to provide adequate mixing, freezing of the liquid during winter months, and increased risk of corrosion for transport equipment.
For producers without access to a micromachine, the low inclusion ingredients typically are provided as part of pre-made pellets that are added to a feed mixer or directly to the feed ration. See, for example, Land O Lakes Finisher Plus® pellets (Catalog No. 1733800) or Land O Lakes Finisher Plus R250 T90® pellets (Catalog No. 1733820). See, also, the Choice® cattle feeding program offered by U.S. Feeds, which provides nine different pellet formulations (e.g., Recharge®; Regain 1®; Regain 5®; Regain 10®; 36 Beef®; Grow & Show®; Fiber Charge®; Gluten Balancer®; or Corn Distiller's Balancer®). The disadvantages of pellets, however, include the bulky storage requirement, inflexibility because of limited and finite pre-made pellet ingredient combinations, the number of different pellets that a producer must keep on hand to accommodate and/or treat different populations of animals, and a possibility of non-uniform distribution throughout the ration.